Start the Week

Other

BBC Radio 4 LW

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday

BBC Radio 4 FM

Start the Week: Dance Pioneers

Dance Pioneers

BBC Radio 4 - Start the Week, Dance Pioneers

Kirsty Wark with Wayne McGregor, Cassa Pancho and Jennifer Homans.

Jennifer Homans, Wayne McGregor and Cassa Pancho discuss the enduring legacy of choreographer George Balanchine and the inspirational power of dance to challenge convention.

George Balanchine is one of the most revered and influential choreographers of the twentieth century.  In this first major biography about his life Jennifer Homans offers an intimate portrait of the man who co-founded the New York City Ballet and brought the art form so spectacularly into the modern age.  She explores his life and legacy, revealing a complicated genius who was inspired to choreograph dances from subjects as diverse as Spinoza’s philosophy to Orthodox icons, disrupting the norms of ballet and pushing the dancers into creative worlds of abstraction.

Wayne McGregor is a contemporary titan of the dance world.  He has just returned from Toronto where his ballet based on Margaret Atwood’s post-apocalyptic book, MADDADDAM, had its world premiere in a joint production for The Royal Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada.  Wayne McGregor’s own dance company is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary and since its inception has been the experimental and creative forum for Wayne’s innovative choreographic style.

Ballet Black was founded by Cassa Pancho just over twenty years ago in response to the lack of racial diversity in ballet and offers dancers of Black and Asian descent a platform to showcase their talents.  The company has gone from strength to strength, continually overturning stereotypes and transforming the landscape of classical dance.  In March 2023 the company will perform ‘Pioneers’ at the Barbican, comprising new and original work by  award-winning choreographers Will Tuckett and Mthuthuzeli November. 

Producer: Natalia Fernandez

Music credits:  Wayne McGregor's MADDADDAM, Act 1 (except),  original score by Max Richter. A co-production between the National Ballet of Canada and The Royal Ballet, inspired by the trilogy by Margaret Atwood. 
‘Then or Now’.  (ballet choreographed by Will Tuckett.  The poetry of Adrienne Rich with music by Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, arranged by Daniel Pioro. The poetry reading is by Michael Shaeffer.)
Simon Rattle / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Stravinsky: Apollon Musagete (Second Tableau, variation of Calliope

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Start the Week

Dance Pioneers

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4